My invention provides a unique method and apparatus to facilitate the laying of tile with the front faces of all tiles lying in a common plane and with uniform and accurately aligned spaces between adjoining tiles.
The usual procedure in laying tile is to first apply a coating of wet cement or mastick to the surface to be tiled, and then to place the individual tiles edge to edge upon the bed of wet cement. To obtain a secure bond between the tiles and the cement, it is the practice to tamp the tiles in order to embed the rear faces of the tiles into the wet cement. This tamping usually leads to varying spaces between tiles and tipping of some tile faces, resulting in an unsatisfactory, irregular appearance of the tiled surface.
In addition, tiles are often laid upon an under surface which itself is not entirely flat and smooth, resulting in a finished tiled surface having a wavy or broken appearance with irregular spaces between adjacent tiles.
In the past laying tiles with all front faces lying in a common plane and with uniform spacing between tiles could be achieved only by the painstaking labor of skilled craftsmen, often using such time-consuming expedients as heavy cord extended between the rows of tile. And the difficulties were increased when it was sought to apply the tiles to walls or other vertical under surfaces.
My invention provides exact alignment and spacing between adjacent tiles and insures that the front faces of all tiles will lie in a common plane despite irregularities in the under surface upon which the tiles are laid. Moreover, the tiles can be laid by relatively unskilled labor and usually in less time than previously required by skilled craftsmen.
My invention begins with a square, rectangular, hexagonal or octagonal tile made from marble, granite, ceramics or the like. The tile has a front face usually polished or decorated and a rear face usually rough and often, especially in the case of marble and granite, not exactly parallel with the front face of the tile. The sides of the tile are generally flat and smooth and at 90.degree. to the front face of the tile.
To this polygonal tile, I securely affix a plurality of spacer members. Preferably the spacer members are made of a tough plastic material such as nylon or styrene. Each has a flat disk-like base with a rectangular flange projecting at 90.degree. from one side of the base so as to bisect the base of the spacer member. The base of the spacer member for attachment to most tiles is about one inch in diameter, but for satisfactory results with large marble tiles having a thickness of more than a half-inch, spacer members with larger base diameters will be required.
The vertical height of the rectangular flange of the spacer member is determined by the distance between the front and rear faces of the tile--the height of the flange always being about 50% of the thickness of the tile or, in the case where the base of the spacer member is affixed to the bottom of a countersunk indentation in the tile (as will hereinafter be described), 50% of the distance between the front face of the tile and the bottom of the countersunk indentation in the tile.
In the case of a square or rectangular tile whose front and rear faces are substantially parallel to each other, as is usually the case with ceramic tile, preferably two spacer members are affixed to each of two adjoining sides of the tile, usually by gluing one-half of the base of the spacer member to the rear face of the tile and gluing the adjoining side of the flange of the spacer member to the side of the tile.
In the case of a tile whose front and rear faces are not parallel, which is often true of large marble tiles, it is necessary to position the spacer members so that the bases of all spacer members affixed to the tile lie exactly the same distance from the front face of the tile. This is best accomplished by grinding a plurality of countersunk half-cylindrical holes in the rear face of the tile, one countersunk hole for each spacer member, and with the flat base of each hole lying at exactly the same distance from the front face of the tile.
Where it is necessary to grind holes in the tiles to position the spacer members at equal distances from the front face of the tile, it will also be necessary to grind similar holes in the remaining sides of each tile so that these sides of the tile will rest upon the bases of spacer members affixed to an adjacent tile, thus positioning the front face of that tile in the same plane as that of the adjoining tiles.
Whether using tiles having spacer members affixed to the rear face of the tiles or to the flat bases of countersunk holes in the sides of the tile, the procedure for laying the tiles is the same. First, a coating of wet cement or mastick is applied to the under surface to be tiled and troweled to a smooth wet surface. Then a single rectangular tile with two spacer members affixed to each of two adjoining sides of the tile as previously described is placed upon the bed of wet cement and lightly tamped into its desired position.
A second tile is then laid along one side of the first tile with its rear face (or the bottom surface of two of its countersunk holes in the case of such a tile) resting upon the bases of two spacer members. In so laying the second tile, its front face will lie in the same plane as the front face of the first tile and its side butting against the flanges of the two spacer members will be exactly parallel to and uniformly spaced from the adjacent side of the first tile.
Additional tiles are then laid one at a time following the foregoing procedure to achieve the desired precisely uniform appearance of the finished tiled surface.